The unprecedented fourth speech by an Israeli Prime Minister to the United States Congress, amidst innumerable standing ovations, should not lull Israel into thinking that it can rely on a polarized America to save it from the existential threat that a nuclear Iran poses.
If Israel does not destroy Iran's production of nuclear weapons, no one else will. Israel has been here before. In 1981, Prime Minister Menachem Begin faced a similar decision when Saddam Hussein's Iraq was pressing ahead with its nuclear program, just like Iran. Saddam had issued genocidal threats against Israel, and according to many reports, the country was less than a month away from full nuclear capability.
On June 7, 1981, Begin ordered a daring Israeli Air Force operation. Israeli pilots flew below Saudi, Jordanian, and Iraqi radar to destroy the nuclear facility situated in Osirak, in the heart of Baghdad, and returned home unscathed. Begin stated that the atomic bombs which the reactor was capable of producing would have been of the Hiroshima size, thus a mortal danger to the people of Israel. He declared that under no circumstances would Israel ever allow an enemy to develop weapons of mass destruction against its people.
As expected, Begin faced harsh criticism. The Reagan Administration suspended delivery of F-16 aircraft to Israel and supported a UN Security Council resolution condemning Israel's actions. The US ambassador to the UN described the raid as shocking and compared it to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher accused Israel of a grave breach of international law, and the French insisted that Israel's actions had not served the cause of peace in the area. Begin was unfazed, stating that he preferred saving the lives of Israeli children over getting the approval of the Security Council and "fair-weather friends."
Today, Israel faces the same situation with Iran. The October 7 attack has taught us that the implacable hatred of the proponents of violent jihad knows no bounds. Iran has stated clearly on many occasions its determination to wipe Israel off the map, an objective deeply embedded in its jihadist worldview. The prospect of mutually assured destruction, which deterred the atheistic, secular Soviet regime during the Cold War, won't deter Iran.
As political analyst Charles Krauthammer once observed, mutually assured destruction for jihadists who glorify death and martyrdom is an incentive, not a deterrent.
The US and the West cannot be relied upon to protect Israel from Iran's nuclear weapons. History has shown that no other nation will come to our rescue.
We learned this from bitter experience when boats of German Jewish refugees were turned back by America and Britain, and when the Allied Forces refused to bomb the railroads to Auschwitz.
Should the unthinkable come to pass, we can be sure that in the West, just like after World War II, there will be tears, hand-wringing, sorrowful memorials, and moving addresses about the tragedy.
The question that Prime Minister Netanyahu should ask himself is the one that moved Prime Minister Begin to act: "No nation can live on borrowed time. For months I've had sleepless nights. Day after day I asked myself, to do or not to do? What would become of our children if I did nothing?" The time for talk is over. Israel must act now to save itself and be prepared to be condemned for doing it. In the end, history will judge favorably, just as it did with Prime Minister Begin.
Israel needs to know that it is alone in the world. The next few months leading up to the American elections will be particularly perilous for Israel, with all the political instability and polarization in America, and Iran's nuclear breakout period measured in weeks and months, not years. It is no coincidence that in the Torah portion read in synagogues throughout the world on the Shabbat before this address, we heard the prophetic words describing the Jewish people: "Behold, a nation that dwells alone."
To dwell alone means to do the right thing even if you are alone against a world of opposition. Abraham, our founding father, was the first person to be called a Hebrew, which the sages say has a root meaning of standing alone.
Now, almost 4,000 years later, his descendants in Israel must do the same thing. Israel must stand alone and do the right thing. Nuclear weapons in the hands of a violent, oppressive jihadist regime like Iran, the greatest state sponsor of global terrorism, is a danger not only to Israel but to the freedom and dignity of every decent human being in Iran itself, the Middle East, and the world.
The nation that dwells alone must act now, alone if necessary, to save itself and the world. We are alone but not helpless. Three-quarters of a century ago, God blessed the Jewish people with an independent state, and now those who are in charge of its military forces need to act, placing their faith not in America but in God, and use the full might of the sovereign Jewish state that God has granted our generation to protect and defend the people of Israel and the cause of freedom and justice for all.
At this historic moment, let us utter in heartfelt prayer the words of King David, the great psalmist and leader of Israel: "May God grant strength to his people; may God bless his people with peace."
